The crusty orange treats are football's pie of choice - who invented them?

Shire Foods, in 1997, for Walsall and Villa. They're now sold at over 70 clubs, 14 in the Premier League, and Shire cook 100,000 a month at a bakery in Leamington Spa. Several rival brands are now available too.

Why put curry in a pie?

Why not? They go with lager. 'In the Nineties the Midlands was famous for balti meals,' says Shire's Vic Doyle. 'As a pie manufacturer we thought it was a great opportunity. A typical Friday night for many young males is lager and a curry, so we thought if you get all that in the authenticity of a pie product, it would work at football.'

It has. So what's in them?

Steamed chicken breast and orange balti goodness. 'We used local curry makers to get the mix right,' says Doyle. 'People can tell the difference between curry powder and a real, authentic curry so we had to get it spot on. We marinade the chicken breast in the curry sauce before putting it in the pie. We've made a very, very authentic product.'

Healthy?

Sort of. Well no, but they're not bad - each one is 200 grams, they're hydrogenated fat-free, with no artificial colours, additives or flavourings. Far healthier than a club-brand dog-arse burger. But keep an eye on your pie's temperature. If nuked in a microwave, the contents become instant flesh-burning lava, like a balti McApple pie.

Main rivals?

Steak. The chicken balti's nemesis. The last major pie census claimed Premiership fans eat 225 million a season, most of them steak-based . 'It varies regionally, though,' says Doyle. 'All the fans up north love the meat-and-potato pie. The southern clubs have steak and kidney pies and Cornish pasties. But the chicken balti rises above that and crosses borders - they're even big in Scotland.'